The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1887-10-05

Liberty.
Liberty is paramount. and focal center
of all things God stands at the head of
liberty and eternity. Eternity and and lib
erty go hand in hand; eternity is darkness
and liberty is light, governed by love and
freedom. When the Lord our God descend
ed in the stygian chaos of earth. where
eternity had ruled in darkness perhaps mil
lions of years. he saw instantaneously
what glorious and beautiful world it was
in which to plant liberty and love. and as it
is recorded in the book of Genesis, His d.
vine command was 'Let there be light. and
there was light" And in His infinite good
ness and infallible laws he created organic
beings with the power to live in freedom
and love.
Man is the masterpiece of Gods work.
made in His image. inspired with intellec
tual talent and divine knowledge. Why?
Because all things shall man rule-the
birds Of the air, the fish of the sea, and the
beasts of the forests. But we know all
have their liberty. as God designed them.
God created man with compassion and pity,
so he would be fit foreman of his creation,
and so loved him that he planted a beaut
full garden for his home, Ornamented with
frugiferOuS luxury, and beauty, and in his
loneliness sent him the lovely companion
wOman-tO enjoy the hallOwed glory of his
home. Eden must have been a beautiful
spot
Dear reader, can't you recall some beauti-
full park you've seen, which afforded su-
preme JOY as you stood surrounded by the en-
chanted beauty, gazing with enraptured
wonder at the fountains spray dancing in
the sunlight. and watching the butterfly
grace and beauty, the darling and the angel
of the incect tribe. gliding gently from
flower to flower. and listening to the sill
very notes of the birds which rend the air
with music tinged with lowered perfume.
Then was Eden a beautiful place. Yes.
ten thousand times more beautiful than any
garden or park modelled by man. And in
that hallOwed circle of Gods glory, the
first man and woman lived with the power
to live in peace. love and happiness. where
sorrow. anguish, sickness, and dlsappOint-
ment had no dominion: liberty to live with
out toll and eat of all the fruits of the land
(But the tree in the midst of the garden
thou shalt not eat Of ii thou dOSt thou shalt
surely die.)
Reader, what a lesson you and me- and
all OF u.s. should learn from that divine
command. How easy and broad is the es-
cape. only one thou shalt not eat" and
so many thou canst eat and be saved.
Still, through that narrow inlet to evil
and ruin, the whole human family have
been cursed. By what curse? All, there
is monster, who is cunning and crafty;
whose eyes twinkle with evil and hate:
whose motto is to blast the present and
bring sorrow in the future. His name is
serpent, the Demon of Horror whose
sting is madness and whose embrace is
death. Adam and Eve sacrificed their
liberty to the cunning wag of his fOrked
tongue, and his tiendish spirit, which for
centuries has been wandering over the earth
carrying on a war of desOlation and dis
truction against mankind. blighting and
mildeWing the nOblest affections of the
heart. and corrupting with its foul breath
the tide of human life, and changing this
glad green earth into Lazer-hOuse.
SAM JONES.